growling and biting behaviour

Question
I read your profile and this may not be your area but I'm kind of desperate, possibly you can consult with your country vet.  I have a poodle cross male.  He is a pom/poodle cross.  Spook is  a year and 4 months. He is kennel trained too.  You can be playing with him nicely and out of the blue he will turn on you and bite viciously.  This happened to my daughter this evening.  She is 14.  She was playing with him and holding him by his paws in a standing position with his back legs on the ground.  Out of the blue he bit her thumb and puntured her skin.  He bit my wrist yesterday and drew blood.

There have been other occasions.  Also he has quite a few growling behaviour episodes where you may approach him and he growls and sometimes bares his teeth  In his kennel he will growl at us too.

Our vet (the only one in town) told us quite a while ago to hold him down until he whimpers if he acts aggressively. We usually do this after a biting incident but he doesn't whimper and will sometimes try to get away.  If we do nothing he will slink away and go in his kennel. The vet also told us to "let sleeping dogs lie" if he growls at us when he is tired.
We don't want him to think biting is an acceptable behaviour at any time.

We just don't know what to do.  He has had all his shots and was neutered at the recommended time (5 or 6 months).

Can you give us any advice.  We live in a very small town so we don't have any local experts here.

Thanks very much.

Leah Toma

Answer
I wish I could be more help, but I'll tell you a few suggestions that might help a bit.  Your vet is probably on the right track though. Sounds like an aggression issue.

I have a dog that had problems with neuroses that were very apparent. He'd had trouble in his first year of life (his environment was NOT healthy).  My vet put him on a VERY small dose of Prozac for awhile and it seemed to settle him down.  I don't know if this would help your dog, but it is something that worked for me.

Also, there are animal behaviorists - do you have a vet school at any college near you?  You might want to take him for observation there if you do.  They usually have excellent facilities and aren't as expensive as things might be otherwise.

Another thing is that maybe your dog is in some kind of pain.  If, say, he has an inner ear ache, he can't tell you he hurts.  If you were playing with him and accidently jarred his ear, causing pain, he might lash out and bite.

One thing a friend of mine did to a sometimes aggressive dog I had once.  He had bitten me, and he growled at her.  She got down on the floor, looked him in the eye, and when he growled and snapped at her, she grabbed his ear and bit it hard.  The dog howled and ran to me for protection, and there was no more problem.  I don't expect that's a recommended solution, but in his case, it worked.

When you look a dog in the eye, you're essentially challenging him and saying "Look, buddy, I'M top dog in this house," so you have to act decisively when you do that.  Truthfully, it sounds like he's just trying to be the alpha dog in your house.  Your vet is right when he/she said to hold him down. Do it every time he growls or snaps until he relaxes.  This puts him in a submissive role.  After he has relaxed, praise him for being a good dog and give him a pat or (sometimes) a treat.  If you do this often enough, he'll realize he ISN'T the leader of your "pack".  Also, obedience school is probably a fantastic idea for him.  It will give him something to strive toward other than being your owner.